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Leigh High School Newspaper

The use of teen driving laws

Breaking the rules is something many teenagers have fun doing. Whether it be sneaking out or breaking curfew, teenagers, and many others, don’t take those rules seriously because they are just rules put in place by parents. The law is a whole different type of rule–it has real consequences–but teens break driving laws every day.

In California, the law states that all provisional licensed drivers must have their license for a year before it is unrestricted. This means that teens must wait a year after they get their license, or turn 18, before they can drive anyone other than themselves. Individuals caught violating this law risk a 30-day to one year restriction on their licence, which can be extended if they break probation. If teens get in an accident that is completely not their fault while violating this law, the accident is automatically their own fault, and they can be sued. There are few exceptions–driving others for medical, school, employment, and family reasons–but there must be a signed note in the teens possession stating the exception.

Many student drivers at Leigh break this law every day by driving off campus with another student in the car and risk the chance of getting their license revoked, or worse. It is understandable that teenagers would want to give their friends a ride home, but it would be better for their friends to wait to get home safely rather than having a provisionally licensed teen take the risk to drive them home. Teenagers, as it is, are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. The truth is, no one has any valid reason to break the driving law–it is put in place to keep everyone safe.